Open Access
American Research Journal of History and Culture
ISSN (Online): 2379-2914
DOI: 10.46568/arjhc
HISTORICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF NATURAL HOT SPRINGS: HEALING WAYS AND ITS ROLE TO HEALTH TOURISM, THE CASE OF OROMIA SPECIAL ZONE, AMHARA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA
Abstract
This article primarily focuses on Historical and Anthropological study of Natural Hot Springs: Healing ways and its role to Health Tourism, in
Oromia Special Zone, Amhara Regional State. The roles of natural hot springs as an important natural resource in health, wellness and health
tourism with special consideration of the health and wellness sector are also got emphasis. Besides, elements of the hot spring experience
were examined including their historical and cultural background and their contribution to the health and medical tourism. This contribute to
knowledge about the role of natural hot springs in tourism which will support and add value to the discussion about health and medical tourism
as an area of increasing importance in national medical tourism.
There have been some attempts to study the natural hot springs which found in Amhara Regional State and Oromia Special Zone. They tried to
assess temperature gradient, anthropogenic impacts, physicochemical parameters and other environmental variables on macro invertebrate
communities. Likewise, others focus on the study of natural radio activity level in water and soil at Kemissie Hot Spring, North-Eastern Ethiopia.
Their study emphasis on evaluation of the level of radio activity in soil and water collected from Kemissie Hot Springs by using high resolution
gamma-ray spectrometry. However, until now, there is no comprehensive study that deeply examines the healing ways and the role of natural
hot spring in health tourism or wellness tourism. Thus, this article is intended to fill this gap left in particular emphasis on the natural hot springs
found in the districts of Jille Dhumuga (Aweyitu), Dawachefa (Borkena) and Bati (Chachatu) which are found in Oromia Special Zone of Amhara
Regional State .The findings of the study revealed that even though the Zone has a plenty of natural hot springs, they did not get proper
protection, attention and developments which disable them to give maximum profits both for the local society and the country in general.
In making this study, wecame acrosswith serious shortage of written sources or literatures in relation to the hot springs. The scarcity of written
materials obliged us to use other sources like pamphlets, which we found in some government offices. Also, we tried our best in using other
different literatures that are, in one way or another, related to our topic.
